Big Huni

Chris “Big Huni” Hunichen is a poker professional who ranks among the top 15 online poker players. He started playing poker during his freshmen year college and entered the aggressive world of professional poker in 2006. Hunichen currently resides in Clayton, North Carolina and frequently plays on PokerStars, bwin, UB.com and other online poker rooms.

Hunichen has a Master’s degree from East Carolina and is fond of other sports too. But most of all, he loves playing poker in Vegas. Big Huni became one of Pocketfives’ 8 Triple Crown winners in May, when he emerged victorious in the $100 tournament on Ongame, the PokerStars $109 No Limit Hold’em Turbo and the $40K GTD Super Tuesday on iPoker. His total earnings from online poker come up to $4,413,330.71, while his tournament winnings in live poker amount to only $79,375.

Online Poker Wins and Records

Big Huni’s first couple of online wins amounted to less than $50. But that did not dishearten him. He focused on becoming a pro and worked on his skills over the next year. His biggest win to date is a cash incentive of $ 90,000, which he won at the 2010 PokerStars $500k Guaranteed event.

The second biggest cash prize he earned was at PokerStars WCOOP, in September 2012. He finished second at the WCOOP 2nd Chance NLH event and earned $ 84,255. His third highest cash win in online poker tournaments is $ 68,780 in February 2012, when he finished first at the PokerStars Sunday 500.

Big Huni’s total earnings amount to more than $200,000 in PokerStars WCOOP and $45k in the Spring Championship of Online Poker events. A major portion of his online poker earnings came from Full Tilt ($1,475,503.50) and PokerStars ($2,394,050.43).

Live Poker Experience

Big Huni earned less than a hundred thousand dollars from Live Poker tournaments. His highest cash win was of $33,016 from WPT Season 9, when he finished 16th in the WPT NLH championship. Performance wise, his best was at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in 2011, when he finished third in the NL six-handed event. This event fetched him a cash incentive of $30,000.

Besides these, Big Huni’s live poker performances were not so impressive. The last event he took part in was the Venetian DeepStack Extravaganza in June 2012, when he finished 5th and earned a little less than eight grand.

Recent Activity

Big Huni is a regular at PokerStars, although he has been trying his hand at the Paddy Power Poker and bwin poker tables. His most recent activity included a win of $ 3,107, for finishing 7th in the $215 Weekly Turbo NLHE on PokerStars. Before that, he won a cash prize of $ 9,743, by winning the $40k GP Super Tuesday R/A event at Paddy Power Poker, on October 23, 2012.

Quote, Unquote

On talking about losing his fiancé due to his poker schedules – “I realized however that poker was something I was not willing to just give up for other people. You gotta do what makes you happy in life and you have to live your own life”.

“It’s good to go into the WSOP with high confidence and no make-up.”

On his greatest influences in the poker world – “the two people who I admired and watched the most without them probably realizing it were Phil USCphildo Collins and Randal RandALLin Flowers, both of whom are good friends of mine and two true sickos in the poker world.”